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Entity discusses the changing face of masculinity.

Men’s grooming has been pretty simplistic – minimalist at best – over the past several decades. In fact, a quick look at the viral 100 Years of Beauty’s USA Men Edition shows that men’s style was consistently the same through the sixties, seventies and nineties. The style consisted of tangled bed heads and wiry beards au natural. This is a look we’ll call don’t-own-a-comb chic.

Now that we’re in the 2010s, modern men have evolved just a little. They’ve abandoned the hygiene-unfriendly aesthetic of before. Yes, they’re still growing out their beards and coveting long locks – but they’re doing so with greater effort than ever before. They’re even buying beard growth oils and grooming products to achieve the look.

In fact, it seems that men are holding themselves to a higher style standard. They’re now enjoying grooming and fashion roles that were formerly reserved strictly for women. According to Complex, men’s style retailer MR PORTER experienced a 300 percent growth in grooming product sales in 2015 and in 2016 the men’s grooming industry is expected to bring in $21 billion in revenue.

READ MORE: 4 Reasons Man-Hating Isn’t Chic

This stands in stark contrast with the unilaterally shaggy men’s style of the seventies. In comparison, men now are no longer held to one aesthetic standard – or called to adhere to one concept of masculinity, for that matter.

“The cowboy, the athlete, the policeman, and the soldier are some of the most recognized images of masculinity over the years,” noted HuffPost Live journalist Ricky Camilleri. “But the cowboy died of lung cancer, the athlete got caught doping, the policeman shot an innocent bystander, and the soldier lost his life fighting an unnecessary war.”

Camilleri’s strong comments are valid evidence of a society which purports to uphold “masculine” ideals such as violence, but in reality abhors the characteristics which it asks its men to portray.

As a result of these forces, coupled with the feminist movement, gender roles are beginning to break down to the benefit of both women and men. Increasingly, men are accepted as men based personal identification as a man, not on the basis of having to prove himself through acts of violence, insensitivity or rejection of “female” characteristics such as affection and fashion sense.

So men, if you want to trade in that macho bravado and slip into something a little more metrosexual, go ahead. America won’t judge you for it – we just might even thank you.

READ MORE: #MakeupIsGenderless: Confronting the Stigma Behind Male Beauty

Entity confronts the stigma of male beauty.

Confronting the stigma of male beauty.

Edited by Ellena Kilgallon
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